John Howard Wins In Australia

More good news for President Bush, a key member of the coalition wins re-election.

SYDNEY, Australia (AP) – Prime Minister John Howard scored a convincing victory in Australia’s federal election Saturday, winning a historic fourth term in a vote ensuring the staunch U.S. ally keeps its troops in Iraq.

With more than 70 percent of votes tallied, Howard appeared likely to increase his government’s majority in parliament – exceeding most analysts’ predictions that the result would be very tight.

The election was widely seen abroad as the first referendum for the three leaders who launched the March 2003 invasion of Iraq, with President Bush facing a ballot next month and British Prime Minister Tony Blair probably facing voters next year.

9 Comments

I was very sad to learn Howard’s party will keep power in Australia, perhaps even gaining some.

I guess, when the entire media is run by the likes of Rupert Murdoch and Hollinger (over 90%) and all of their radio is run by another conservative, there is a conservative bias that is difficult to overcome.

Few other elected leaders in Coalition of the Willing have won re-election. 5 elected Heads of State (4, if you don’t count Arroyo because she took office when the President resigned(is their VP elected?)) out of 14 have won so far. And then you have to include Azerbaijan, where the son of the former Commissar won (unfree place) and Rwanda, where a military strongman, Kagame, won. Oh, and the head of the Marshall Islands, he won.

Spain, Panama, Iceland, Dominican-Republic, Mongolia, Slovakia, and even Japan, have all seen a change since the war. In Macedonia, the guy died, so he can’t still be in power. In El Salvador, I don’t know the details, but the old guy didn’t run. In Latvia, the ruling coalition fell apart the day after the election, and the PM is trying to run the country with a minority.

chuckOctober 9, 2004

looks like kerry’s sister could not undermine our policy no matter how hard she tried. I guess she just does not have her brothers evil talent.

Josh : Isn’t a testimony to democracy and liberty across the globe that free people are still able to practice self determination, even during difficult times? Why do you hate Democracy ? Plus, though I suspect that you were trying to equate their participation in the coalition with their electoral defeat, I also suspect that is an incredibly naive view, completely ignoring their own electoral politics, domestic issues, etc …

Howard, and more importantly, Australia, along with the ever-so-honorable Tony Blair, are allies of impeccable character. Even when faced with a politically unpopular decision amongst their own electorates, they were able to see that doing the right thing is more important than doing the popular thing. Personally, though quotes like that get lost in the shuffle in a debate, I thought that was one of President Bush’s more powerful points in the debate last night.

BrannaOctober 9, 2004

Very good news. My first impression was that free nations will make the right choices. I wish FOX could be seen in England as well.

Thank God for Rupport Murdock. He’s a great man who sees the fine balances of life. Anyone who knows his life story can see where he’s coming from.

JD asks my opinion of Democracy. Well, when all the media in your country is run by right-wing liars of the Rupert Murdoch ilk (Hollinger, and the guy who runs Australian radio), then there is no such thing as Democracy. For Democracy to work, the people have to know!